Knoll welcomes innovation to solve public transport woes

Stephan Knoll, Member for Schubert, has welcomed the introduction of a review of the regulatory framework relating to taxis in South Australia.

“One of my top 5 ‘wish list’ items is for better transport options for Schubert. A review of the taxi industry, particularly looking at the possible introduction of UberX could be a neat solution to help compliment services that currently exist,” Mr Knoll said.

“At peak tourist times there are limited options for helping get people around the Barossa, especially given we would prefer people not to worry about drink driving. Companies such as Uber would help to create local jobs and help improve our visitor experience.

UberX is a mobile based ride sharing application that allows individuals that meet certain criteria to become drivers and become part of the transport system.

“The announcement by the Minister will look into how a revamped taxi industry would look in 2017 with new innovation to take advantage of modern technology and the ‘sharing economy’. This would also help to achieve South Australia’s tourism goals.

“South Australia needs to be innovative and welcoming of things such as the ‘shared economy.’ Uber, with their UberX product, is one of a number of companies that could have a positive effect, and work well together with the existing services in the region. It could be the start of a number of operators coming to Schubert including ‘Lyft’, ‘GoGet’, and many others – including some that haven’t been invented yet!

“I also welcome Minister Mullighan’s comments that innovation in the taxi industry is needed. The Taxi Industry Association of Australia has encouraged innovation into their industry with a submission to the Competition Policy Review in June last year stating: ‘…Faster innovation and deployment of new technologies must always be encouraged.’

“I hold similar views to Minister Mullighan in that UberX should agree to compete on an even playing field with taxi services.

“Australia has a proud record of taxi industry innovations, such as dispatch centres and fee processing with companies like CabCharge, but I look forward to the next wave of innovation for this important service industry.”